Improvements to the DEPR communication process

[jmakowski1123]

Problem

There is too much of a lack of adherence to deprecation standards and it negatively impacts MFE workflows. In at least one case, a new MFE has replaced a pre-existing IDA without porting commonly used features. This has to be avoided in the future. There is often a lack of awareness among any Open edX user who did not initiate the deprecation process and thus may not be aware that it is happening.

Product/Platform Value

A transparent deprecation process will allow users of the platform to not only plan ahead accordingly, but to have a say in the deprecation itself.

Acceptance Criteria

We likely need a more fine-tuned discovery process to identify the operational gaps in the current deprecation process. Also, the scope of the need for better deprecation communication will impact all areas of the platform, not just MFEs.

Related or in-progress work

tCRIL identified the depr process as an area for investment in the first year, here and here. It may make more sense to tackle this as a comprehensive depr-focused project, with improvements to MFE-related depr tickets expected to be made in the process.

Contingencies

None, and this is likely a larger-scale initiative that tCRIL will invest in 2022.